A Hundred Years of Religious Freedom in Finland

The paper explains the State-Church relationship in Finland from legal, social, political, and historical perspective. The paper aim is to explore all the important contemporary legal-political and social-political issues with the historical background in the field. The most important thesis is that the current state of things between the State and the Church is based on an idea of a “friendly relationship”.

Temenos: Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion, 2022

This article considers the turn to culture and heritage as a strategy for the preservation of majoritarian religious practices, including the implications of such a strategy for nonreligious people. This turn has been observed in analyses of court cases in which the religious or cultural nature of symbols and practices has been negotiated. Drawing from previous scholarship regarding the turn, this article pays special attention to Finland by examining if and how cultural justification of symbols and practices takes place. We suggest that the shift to culture applies to Finland, although in international comparison Finnish instances are more prominent in public (media) discourses that refer to laws and legal experts than in court cases. We also argue that one of the consequences of this international development is that it becomes increasingly difficult for nonreligious people to feel part of 'us' in a situation where justification by referring to 'our culture and heritage' is one of the strategies to define who and what belongs to 'us'.

Journal for the academic study of religion, 2018

The Freedom of Religion Act in Finland dates to 1922, but before 2003 only one community with no connections with the so-called world religions, 'scientific' Totuuden ystävät, was registered (in 1958). In 2003 an evaluative board was established to supervise registration. The number of rejected applications has been growing since the 1990s. Because these all concern minority movements, the Finnish case can shed light on the worldwide interest in state responses to minority religions. This article analyses the applications of three groups: La Sociedad del Amor de Dios (2015) and Suomen Äärimmäisen Vapaa Eristinen Liike (2016), both of which were unsuccessful, and Karhun kansa (2013), which was successful. Key questions include 'On what basis does the board of experts reject or approve the applications of new or "alternative" religious groups?' and 'What role do "impartial sources" play in the decision-making process of the board?'.

Jan Nelis, Caroline Sägesser & Jean-Philippe Schreiber (eds) Religion and Secularism in the European Union: States of Affairs and Current Debates. Bruxelles: Peter Lang, 63–68., 2017

According to Eurostat 2011, Finland is culturally, ethnically and religiously one of the most homogeneous countries in Europe. 1 This is reflected in its religious landscape: although particularly because of Muslim immigrants and refugees, religious diversity has increased since the 1990s, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland remains the biggest religious denomination.

Religion, Education and Human Rights, 2017

Religious Education (hereafter RE) has a strong potential for promoting human rights. Consequently, it is essential to consider the human rights perspective when pondering the aims, content, and practical organization of RE. Additionally, the issue of human rights is vital in considerations related to the place of religion in the public sphere, such as the various contexts of institutional education: kindergartens, preschools and schools. Moreover, it is important from the perspective of religious minorities in particular to consider the negotiations and clashes of values encountered by children and young people whose family socialization differs significantly from the dominant value hegemony in the school social context (Kuusisto, 2010; 2011). Different interpretations of religious freedom and the right to religious education are important considerations for RE. However, the complex interplay of 'public' and 'private' must be reconsidered when analysing human rights issues related to religion. Furthermore, the framework of a child's right to religion versus that of parents' right to education according to worldview must be scrutinized.

BYU L. Rev., 2001

Tidsskrift for Islamforskning

The article addresses the question whether, with Finland as the case, the Nordic welfare state is undergoing profound change under the influence of neo-liberal global economics and new forms of governance. The article starts with a critique of Nancy Foner and Richard Alba’s (2008) comparison of the position of Muslims in the USA and Western Europe and claims that their comparison does not take into account more recent changes in the ways how West European states deal with religion. Instead the article argues that state-religion relations have been influenced by the neo-liberal restructuring of society and it presents an alternative way to look at state-religion relations. It is claimed the societal location of religion is now better understood within the context of civil society rather than an institutional sphere of its own.

This thesis gives a brief presentation of the church history climate in Finland in the 1800s and early 1900s and then goes deeper with enquires into the joint birth-history and theology of what is today the Evangelical Free Church of Finland (Suomen Vapaakirkko) and the Swedish speaking Evangelical Free Church of Finland (Missionskyrkan i Finland). The thesis looks into the historical events, revivals and theological views that helped pave the way for, and shaped, the Free Church movement in Finland. The thesis also touches on the denominational process of the Swedish speaking Evangelical Free Church of Finland as late as in the early 2000s. The aim of the thesis is achieved through historical research methods with primary and secondary written sources.

Religion & Human Rights, 2008

In order to gain an understanding of what it means to have a human right to freedom of religion or belief, one has to start by looking at the different actual conflicts that give rise to discussion in terms of such a human right. Different conflicts reveal different problems. It is therefore unsatisfying to attempt to essentialise the human right to freedom of religion or belief, and simply apply it to different cases. There are, for example, various ways of organising religious instruction in public schools. Neutrality consists in presenting these models and conflicts, not in saying that there is one right or wrong answer. This, of course, does not exclude critical examination and discussion. This article examines one model attempting to accommodate religious freedom within a public education system while including religious instruction on the curriculum, and juxtaposes it to a second model of organizing religious instruction that has given rise to conflict. The models discussed ha...